Day 83 - Pouring on the Pounds

Today, I did absolutely nothing. For the first time in months, I didn't leave the house, I had no homework, chores or errands to do, and I didn't even get dressed. And I loved it! It was so great to have a day to do nothing. Mind you, one day is about all I could handle. If I didn't have to leave the house tomorrow, I still would. I'd find something to do. I can't sit around for too long, I get shack whacky.

Chris and I did our Kenpo workout tonight, and we learned why Tony didn't have Kenpo following Back & Biceps. Both of us were grunting and groaning because our biceps were so sore (that may be a slight exaggeration). We did the usual mix, the first half of Kenpo X and the first half (or so) of Kenpo Cardio +. Followed by Ab Ripper. Oh, Ab Ripper. I thought I could master you in 90 days... I thought wrong. I only have one more Ab Ripper workout!!! This means that I either have to a) master it in one go, or b) accept the fact that I won't master it this time around. I'm leaning toward b.

So, my step-mother works for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She (and many others) developed this ad campaign describing the negative effects that soda has on peoples' health. They have a website, a Facebook group, a YouTube video and mass transit posters, and they're causing a stir in New York, in the States and around the world. I highly recommend checking it out (especially the YouTube video!) and passing it along to friends.

Day 47 - Donut.. D'oh!

I woke up in a fury at 0615 this morning because I was supposed to be at the hospital to shadow an RN for 0630.. Needless to say, my alarm did not go off. I threw on some scrubs, called a cab, ran a brush through my hair, tossed a couple protein bars and two packs of oatmeal in my purse, and ran out the door. (Then I waited 20 minutes for my cab, but that's another story.)

I ate a protein bar while waiting for the cab, which, I guess, could count as breakfast.. but I still had no lunch. So during first break I went to the horribly overpriced cafeteria and got a turkey wrap, a yogurt, and - for the first time in 47 days - a donut. I was feeling so sooky and sour that I was so rushed this morning, I got the donut as a comfort food. I know, I know, "it's one donut, it's no big deal". It wouldn't be a big deal if this whole program didn't mean so much to me. But, I can forgive one donut. And in my defense, at the time, I purposely chose a glazed donut (honey dip) over the cake donut that I really wanted (sour cream glazed), because I know they're lower in fat.

So there.

I got back on track once I got home. We had pork chops and salad for supper, and I had a second protein bar at 1500 when I'm actually supposed to have one. Speaking of breakfast (well, I was), we don't have any chicken bacon, so I don't know what to do about breakfast. I can have oatmeal, I love oatmeal.. but that's two protein servings lost. I guess I could make egg whites.. Ooooh, I just thought of something: an egg-white omelet with chicken, peppers and salsa. YUM! See, this blog is good for something!

I'll be taking pictures of this breakfast. Can't wait!

Oh, and about the workouts: We did Legs & Back, skipping Ab Ripper again to do tomorrow morning. Chris is a maniac and has started doing intervals on weekend mornings, with his regular workouts in the evenings. I might join him tomorrow, but probably not. Let's be honest here. Anyway, for the chin-ups, Chris was reading that it's really effective to do negative chin-ups if you can't do a lot of regular ones. That'd be me. Negative chin-ups are half of a normal pull-up: the down part. You get your hands in place, stand up on a chair, then step off the chair and lower yourself down. And repeat. It really works, but I was a little disappointed because I had mega strain in my upper abs, to the point where I just stopped because they felt like they might get hurt. Chris says it's probably because it's working my body in a new way, and I hope he's right, because that means it'll go away with time. So I'll keep trying these negative chin-ups, and I'll keep ya'll posted!

Day 21 - Three weeks!

Because of our schedule switcheroo, we did Kenpo today instead of taking our rest day. I'm still on the fence with Kenpo. I noticed today that Tony takes a lot of breaks, where he gives you five seconds to get some water,  then gets you running, doing jumping jacks and X's. Cardio, cardio, cardio. I suspect that this is to get our hearts pumping, since the Kenpo doesn't really do that. Well, I shouldn't say that.. It just doesn't do it as well as jumping jacks. I strained my neck too, which has settled a little. Chris bought weighted gloves that he used during the workout, and he found they made a huge difference. I might look into that down the road, when I get a little better at my punches. As far as my opinion on Kenpo goes... Meh. It's not looking good, but it still has time to win me over.

We have chili made up to put in the slow cooker tomorrow morning. Lean ground beef, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, and other spices. Pretty simple! We tried to get ground turkey, but there wasn't any at the grocery store today for some reason. I'm really excited to come home tomorrow and smell it cooking.. Mmm-mmm!

So, today marks 21 days! That means Phase 1 is almost complete! This week is rest week, which hardly constitutes "rest". Yoga, Core Synergistics, Kenpo, Stretch, Core Synergistics, Yoga, Stretch. Intense! Tomorrow is Yoga again, seems like I just did Yoga. Oh wait, I did! Looking forward to it though, still. I only wish I didn't have to do so many damn downward dogs.

Also, my cat found my yoga block (silly me for leaving it on the floor), and he decided to use it to sharpen his claws. I wasn't mad, because really, it still serves its purpose. This is what I have to contend with. Who could be mad at that face?

 

A face only a mother could love.

Day 3

I was just formally introduced to the Ab Ripper workout, and I have to say, I loved it. It was extremely hard, and there were definitely areas that need improvement, but that will come. When I first started going to the gym back in January, I couldn't do a sit-up (with unweighted feet) to save my life. Now I can do 25! So, I'm not letting myself get disappointed because I know that progress will come.

One exercise, the oblique V's, I absolutely couldn't do. In place of those, I did side planks for the same amount of time which was still very challenging for me. For some reason, I find planks really tough, and I've never been able to hold them very long. It'll be interesting to see how that changes, as well.

Before Ab Ripper, we did Shoulders and Arms. It was great, but I really need to get 7.5lb weights. For the bicep exercises the 10lb was fine, but for triceps and shoulders I had to use my 5's which weren't enough. So, note to self.

My inner thighs and glutes were very, very sore today. So sore that I couldn't walk at my normal speed, sitting down was torture, and I was walking like I had a stick up my ass. Nice!

As far as the diet goes, so far so good (I typed food there by accident and laughed.. I'm getting tired!). We've had three days now of breakfasts consisting of chicken bacon and egg whites, so tomorrow we're switching it up and trying soy sausage muffins (soy sausage patties on whole wheat English muffins with skim mozza). Chris also noticed these veggie sausages that boasted 170 calories, 6 grams of fat and 20 (!!) grams of protein per sausage. We both love sausage, but since your classic sausage has almost 300 calories, over 20 grams of fat and half the protein, we always skip on it because it's really not worth it. I'm clearly obsessed with these sausages, so they better not disappoint! We'll be trying them in the next few days.

Another early morning tomorrow. Goodnight!

Mmmmm!

Day 2

So, today I learned three things.

One: P90X makes me very, very sore in the morning. After core synergistics yesterday, I woke up this morning and felt like I had been riding horseback all night. I blame this specifically on the low lateral skaters move.

Two: Pushing through that achy soreness tonight to complete the cardio workout paid off. I felt the stiffness fade away after only 5 minutes, plus warm up. And now I'm sitting here, content in knowing that I ate exactly what I was supposed to eat today, I did my workout, and I'm showered and it's done.

Three: Waterproof mascara is not sweat proof. I noticed this after coming out of two workouts looking like a flushed sweaty zombie. Here I was spending money on good quality eye-makeup remover, when I could have just sweat it off. Good to know!

Seriously though, so far so good. Besides moaning like an 80-year-old woman every time I tried to stand up, I had a good day. I'm glad the meals are sufficient, because I like to eat lots of small meals in a day. For breakfast we had scrambled egg whites, chicken bacon and half an English muffin (which, again, stayed with me for about 3 1/2 hours), and for lunch I took a shaved chicken breast on English muffin sandwich, two yogurts, a small can of tuna, strawberries, cucumbers, and half a protein bar. Lunch lasted me until 7:00, when I got home and had tofu stirfry and quinoa. Then I did my workout, showered, and polished off some frozen yogurt.

Right now, I'm very tired. I have some work to do, and I have to get up at 5:30 tomorrow morning.. So enough procrastinating! Thanks for reading, leave me some comments! :)

At least it wasn't this bad.